1. 802.11 Wireless LAN (not assessed) Dr Sandra I. Woolley

2. 2 Wireless Data Communications  Wireless communications compelling Easy, low-cost deployment Mobility & roaming: Access information anywhere Supports personal devices PDAs, laptops, data-cell-phones Supports communicating devices Cameras, location devices, wireless identification  Signal strength varies in space & time  Signal can be captured by snoopers  Spectrum is limited & usually regulated

3. 3 B D C A Ad Hoc Communications  Temporary association of group of stations –Within range of each other –Need to exchange information –E.g. Presentation in meeting, or distributed computer game, or both

4. A2 B2 B1 A1 AP1 AP2 Distribution System Server Gateway to the Internet Portal BSS A BSS B Infrastructure Network Permanent Access Points provide access to Internet

5. A transmits data frame (a) Data Frame A B C C transmits data frame & collides with A at B (b) C senses medium, station A is hidden from C Data Frame B C A Hidden Terminal Problem New MAC: CSMA with Collision Avoidance

6. RTS A requests to send B C (a) CTS A B C B announces A ok to send (b) Data Frame A sends B C remains quiet (c) CSMA with Collision Avoidance

7. 7 IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN  Stimulated by availability of unlicensed spectrum –U.S. Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) bands –902-928 MHz, 2.400-2.4835 GHz, 5.725-5.850 GHz  Targeted wireless LANs @ 20 Mbps  MAC for high speed wireless LAN  Ad Hoc & Infrastructure networks  Variety of physical layers

8. 8 802.11 Definitions  Basic Service Set (BSS) –Group of stations that coordinate their access using a given instance of MAC –Located in a Basic Service Area (BSA) –Stations in BSS can communicate with each other –Distinct collocated BSS’s can coexist  Extended Service Set (ESS) –Multiple BSSs interconnected by Distribution System (DS) –Each BSS is like a cell and stations in BSS communicate with an Access Point (AP) –Portals attached to DS provide access to Internet

9. A2 B2 B1 A1 AP1 AP2 Distribution System Server Gateway to the Internet Portal BSS A BSS B Infrastructure Network

10. 10 Distribution Services  Stations within BSS can communicate directly with each other  DS provides distribution services: –Transfer MAC SDUs between APs in ESS –Transfer MSDUs between portals & BSSs in ESS –Transfer MSDUs between stations in same BSS  Multicast, broadcast, or stations’s preference  ESS looks like single BSS to LLC layer

11. 11 Infrastructure Services  Select AP and establish association with AP –Then can send/receive frames via AP & DS  Reassociation service to move from one AP to another AP  Dissociation service to terminate association  Authentication service to establish identity of other stations  Privacy service to keep contents secret

12. 12 IEEE 802.11 MAC  MAC sublayer responsibilities –Channel access –PDU addressing, formatting, error checking –Fragmentation & reassembly of MAC SDUs  MAC security service options –Authentication & privacy  MAC management services –Roaming within ESS –Power management

13. 13 MAC Services  Contention Service: Best effort  Contention-Free Service: time-bounded transfer  MAC can alternate between Contention Periods (CPs) & Contention-Free Periods (CFPs) Physical Distribution coordination function (CSMA-CA) Point coordination function Contention- free service Contention service MAC MSDUs

14. 14 Distributed Coordination Function (DCF)  DCF provides basic access service –Asynchronous best-effort data transfer –All stations contend for access to medium  CSMA-CA –Ready stations wait for completion of transmission –All stations must wait Interframe Space (IFS) DIFS PIFS SIFS Contention window Next frame Defer access Wait for reattempt time Time Busy medium

15. 15 Priorities through Interframe Spacing  High-Priority frames wait Short IFS (SIFS) –Typically to complete exchange in progress –ACKs, CTS, data frames of segmented MSDU, etc.  PCF IFS (PIFS) to initiate Contention-Free Periods  DCF IFS (DIFS) to transmit data & MPDUs DIFS PIFS SIFS Contention window Next frame Defer access Wait for reattempt time Time Busy medium

16. 16 Contention & Backoff Behavior  If channel is still idle after DIFS period, ready station can transmit an initial MPDU  If channel becomes busy before DIFS, then station must schedule backoff time for reattempt –Backoff period is integer # of idle contention time slots –Waiting station monitors medium & decrements backoff timer each time an idle contention slot transpires –Station can contend when backoff timer expires  A station that completes a frame transmission is not allowed to transmit immediately –Must first perform a backoff procedure

17. 17 RTS CTS Data Frame A requests to send B C A A sends B B C C remains quiet B announces A ok to send (a) (b) (c) ACK B (d) ACK

18. 18 Carrier Sensing in 802.11  Physical Carrier Sensing –Analyze all detected frames –Monitor relative signal strength from other sources  Virtual Carrier Sensing at MAC sublayer –Source stations informs other stations of transmission time (in  sec) for an MPDU –Carried in Duration field of RTS & CTS –Stations adjust Network Allocation Vector to indicate when channel will become idle  Channel busy if either sensing is busy

19. Data DIFS SIFS Defer Access Wait for Reattempt Time ACK DIFS NAV Source Destination Other Transmission of MPDU without RTS/CTS

20. Data SIFS Defer access Ack DIFS NAV (RTS) Source Destination Other RTS DIFS SIFS CTS SIFS NAV (CTS) NAV (Data) Transmission of MPDU with RTS/CTS

21. 21 Collisions, Losses & Errors  Collision Avoidance –When station senses channel busy, it waits until channel becomes idle for DIFS period & then begins random backoff time (in units of idle slots) –Station transmits frame when backoff timer expires –If collision occurs, recompute backoff over interval that is twice as long  Receiving stations of error-free frames send ACK –Sending station interprets non-arrival of ACK as loss –Executes backoff and then retransmits –Receiving stations use sequence numbers to identify duplicate frames

22. 22 Point Coordination Function  PCF provides connection-oriented, contention-free service through polling  Point coordinator (PC) in AP performs PCF  Polling table up to implementor  CFP repetition interval –Determines frequency with which CFP occurs –Initiated by beacon frame transmitted by PC in AP –Contains CFP and CP –During CFP stations may only transmit to respond to a poll from PC or to send ACK

23. CF End NAV PIFS B D1 + Poll SIFS U 1 + ACK D2+Ack+ Poll SIFS U 2 + ACK SIFS Contention-free repetition interval Contention period CF_Max_duration Reset NAV D1, D2 = frame sent by point coordinator U1, U2 = frame sent by polled station TBTT = target beacon transmission time B = beacon frame TBTT PCF Frame Transfer

24. 24 Frame Types  Management frames –Station association & disassociation with AP –Timing & synchronization –Authentication & deauthentication  Control frames –Handshaking –ACKs during data transfer  Data frames –Data transfer

25. 25 Address 2 Frame Control Duration/ ID Address 1 Address 3 Sequence control Address 4 Frame body CRC 22666260-23124 MAC header (bytes) Frame Structure  MAC Header: 30 bytes  Frame Body: 0-2312 bytes  CRC: CCITT-32 4 bytes CRC over MAC header & frame body

26. 26 Address 2 Frame Control Duration/ ID Address 1 Address 3 Sequence control Address 4 Frame body CRC Protocol version TypeSubtype To DS From DS More frag Retry Pwr mgt More data WEPRsvd 22666260-23124 2 2 MAC header (bytes) 411111111 Frame Control (1)  Protocol version = 0  Type: Management (00), Control (01), Data (10)  Subtype within frame type  Type=00, subtype=association; Type=01, subtype=ACK  MoreFrag=1 if another fragment of MSDU to follow

27. To DS From DS Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Address 4 00 Destination address Source address BSSIDN/A 01 Destination address BSSID Source address N/A 10BSSID Source address Destination address N/A 11 Receiver address Transmitter address Destination address Source address Meaning Data frame from station to station within a BSS Data frame exiting the DS Data frame destined for the DS WDS frame being distributed from AP to AP Address 2 Frame Control Duration/ ID Address 1 Address 3 Sequence control Address 4 Frame body CRC Protocol version TypeSubtype To DS From DS More frag Retry Pwr mgt More data WEPRsvd 22666260-23124 2 2411111111 To DS = 1 if frame goes to DS; From DS = 1 if frame exiting DS Frame Control (2)

28. 28 Address 2 Frame Control Duration/ ID Address 1 Address 3 Sequence control Address 4 Frame body CRC Protocol version TypeSubtype To DS From DS More frag Retry Pwr mgt More data WEPRsvd 22666260-23124 2 2 MAC header (bytes) 411111111 Frame Control (3)  Retry=1 if mgmt/control frame is a retransmission  Power Management used to put station in/out of sleep mode  More Data =1 to tell station in power-save mode more data buffered for it at AP  WEP=1 if frame body encrypted

29. 29 Physical layer LLC Physical layer convergence procedure Physical medium dependent MAC layer PLCP preamble LLC PDU MAC SDU MAC header CRC PLCP header PLCP PDU Physical Layers  802.11 designed to –Support LLC –Operate over many physical layers

30. 30 IEEE 802.11 Physical Layer Options Frequency Band Bit RateModulation Scheme 802.112.4 GHz1-2 Mbps Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 802.11b2.4 GHz11 Mbps Complementary Code Keying & QPSK 802.11g2.4 GHz54 Mbps Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing & CCK for backward compatibility with 802.11b 802.11a5-6 GHz54 Mbps Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

31. Thank You